Time rewind
Michael’s whisper sounded hoarse amid the monster’s roar.
"If there is a god or a devil listening to me. I will give anything. Take my soul. Take my future. Let me kill them all."
The Chimera did not care about the prayers of the dying.
The monster opened its jaws wide.
Fangs as long as a human arm came crashing down at a speed the eye could not follow.
Cold pierced Michael’s neck before the true pain arrived.
Fresh blood burst from the artery in his neck like a fountain. The warm red liquid soaked Michael’s hands and covered the old pocket watch he was clutching.
The blood seeped into the cracks in the watch’s shattered glass.
Michael’s world began to darken. The sounds around him faded away.
Yet in the final second of his consciousness, he felt something strange.
The pocket watch in his hand grew hot. So hot it burned the skin of his palm.
The sound of a ticking clock echoed in his ears.
Tick.
Tock.
The sound grew louder. Louder than his weakening heartbeat. Louder than the Chimera’s victorious roar as it tore into his body.
A flickering, damaged blue holographic screen appeared before his blurring vision. The text on it was difficult to read, as if the system were experiencing a fatal error.
[Warning! Anomaly Detected.]
[User blood meets contract requirements.]
[Chronos System activating...]
[Error! User soul unstable.]
[Initiating emergency protocol: Temporal Reset.]
Michael wanted to laugh. Was this a hallucination before death? Was his brain trying to comfort him in his final moments?
The Chimera’s fangs tore deeper, separating flesh from bone.
The pain vanished abruptly.
Replaced by the sensation of being violently pulled backward at the speed of light. As if his entire existence were being rewound on a broken videotape.
Ellian’s voice was heard again. But this time it sounded reversed and distorted.
"K-u-s-u-b... n-a-m-u-l-i-T"
A blinding white light swallowed everything.
Then darkness.
And then Michael opened his eyes with a violent jolt.
"Hey, Porter. Pick up the pace. We’re almost at the Boss room."
That voice.
Michael gasped for air violently. His heart raced like a wild horse. His hands flew to his neck in panic.
No blood. No bite marks. His skin was intact.
He looked ahead. Ellian’s silver-armored back was there. Walking arrogantly, just as it had a few minutes ago.
The damp cave walls. The smell of sulfur. The pain in his shoulders from the heavy pack.
Everything was exactly the same.
"What the..."
Michael looked at the pocket watch in his hand. It was still dead. There was no blood on it.
Was it all just a dream? A vision?
But the pain of his leg being shattered felt far too real. The cold sensation of the monster’s fangs piercing his neck still haunted him.
He glanced toward Michel the Healer. The woman was drinking water from her bottle.
Exactly the same as she had before they reached the gate.
Michael realized something horrifying.
He had returned to the past.
But before he could process what was happening, a message box floated in the air right in front of his face. This time the text was clear and colored blood-red.
[Welcome Back, Sir.]
[You have sold 50 years of your remaining future to activate 'Save Point'.]
[Current Lifespan Remaining: 23 Hours 55 Minutes.]
[Mission Objective: Survive.]
Michael stared at the message with his mouth hanging open. A remaining lifespan of twenty-three hours? What did that mean?
"Hey! Are you deaf?"
Ellian turned around and glared at Michael with that familiar sharp gaze. The same look he had worn before breaking Michael’s leg.
"I told you to move faster. Don’t waste my time."
The word "time" sent a chill down Michael’s spine.
He didn’t know what had truly happened to his body. But one thing he knew for certain.
The Boss room gate was ten meters ahead of them.
And inside it was a monster that would kill them all.
Or more precisely, a monster Ellian would use to kill Michael.
Michael’s mind worked rapidly. Fear was still there, but now it was mixed with a cold, focused rage. He remembered the pain. He remembered Michel’s averted gaze.
If he went in there, the same scenario would repeat itself. He would die again.
And if that strange system was real, he had less than a single day left to live.
"Sorry, Sir Ellian," Michael said slowly. His voice sounded different this time. Lower. Calmer. "My pack strap is loose. Give me five seconds."
Ellian snorted in irritation. "Useless. Hurry up."
Michael pretended to kneel to fix his bag. His hand brushed against the dark, damp ground. His fingers touched something cold and sharp.
An old iron spike, left behind from an abandoned mine rail.
He gripped the rusted spike tightly beneath the sleeve of his long coat.
He stood back up. His gaze fixed on the back of Ellian’s neck, left unprotected by his helmet.
If he was going to die today, he would not die alone as bait.
"All done," Michael said.
Ellian turned back toward the front without the slightest suspicion.
"Good. Let’s open the door."
As Ellian began stepping toward the gate of death, Michael counted silently.
One.
He quickened his pace just a little.
Two.
He shifted the weight of the pack onto one shoulder so it could be dropped easily.
Three.
His right hand clenched the rusted spike tighter and tighter until it cut into his own palm.
Ellian placed his hand on the stone door.
"Go in. We’ll finish this in ten minutes," Ellian said, repeating the exact same words as before.
But this time, Michael did not stay silent.
"Sir Ellian," Michael called.
Ellian glanced back slightly, irritation on his face. "What is i-"
"You’re the one going in first."
The rusted spike flew through the air.
Michael poured every last ounce of strength into the thin muscles of his arm. He aimed for a vital point on Ellian’s exposed neck. The distance between them was less than a meter. In close-combat theory, a surprise attack like this should have been impossible to evade, even for an experienced Hunter.
The sharp tip of the spike was only one centimeter away from Ellian’s skin.
However, the world of Hunters did not operate by ordinary human logic.
Ting!
A sharp ringing sound echoed as the iron spike struck something invisible. The air around Ellian’s neck vibrated briefly, forming a transparent, pinkish-red hexagonal pattern.
Mana Shield.
An automatic barrier embedded in Ellian’s expensive necklace activated instantly upon detecting a physical threat.
Time seemed to stop. Michael’s eyes widened as he stared at the rusted spike bouncing uselessly off the magical shield.
Ellian slowly turned around. His handsome face showed no fear, only confusion that gradually twisted into pure disgust. He looked at Michael the way someone would look at a cockroach that had just tried to bite their boot.
"What was that?" Ellian asked in a flat, chilling tone.
Michael stepped back. His hands trembled violently. "I-I..."
"You tried to kill me? With that piece of scrap metal?"
Ellian laughed. It was not a laugh of amusement, but the sound of utter contempt.
Without warning, Ellian’s iron-gloved hand swung.
Bugh!
The slap was so powerful it felt like being struck by a sledgehammer. Michael’s jaw shifted. He was sent flying sideways and slammed into the rough cave wall. Fresh blood filled his mouth once more.
"A lowly Porter like you dares to raise a weapon against me?" Ellian walked closer while shaking his head. "I planned to sacrifice you in a somewhat humane way, but it seems you prefer something more brutal."
Ellian grabbed Michael by the collar and dragged him like a sack of rice toward the gate. Michael struggled, his legs kicking helplessly through the air, but the physical strength of a Rank A was absolute.
"Open the door!" Ellian shouted at the other party members.
One of them pushed the stone door open. Darkness and the foul stench from inside the Boss room immediately poured out to greet them.
"Enjoy your hell, trash," Ellian whispered right into Michael’s ear.
With a single powerful swing, Ellian hurled Michael’s body into the darkness.
Michael flew through the air. He saw the stone door beginning to close again. He saw Ellian’s smile. He saw Michel’s expressionless face.
Then he landed hard on a pile of bones.
A terrifying roar sounded behind him. The Chimera was already awake.
This time there was no negotiation. No time to think. A massive claw swept straight through his body.
Michael felt himself being torn apart. The pain came again. Darkness. Cold.
Tick.
Tock.
"Hey, Porter. Pick up the pace. We’re almost at the Boss room."
Michael’s eyes snapped open. He gasped for air, his hands clutching his own chest. His heart pounded so violently it hurt.
He looked around in panic. The same cave corridor. The same moss. The same view of Ellian’s back.
He was back again.
Red text floated at the edge of his vision.
[Death Confirmed.]
[Activating Rewind.]
[Cost: 10 Years of Future.]
[Remaining Lifespan: 13 Hours 55 Minutes.]
Michael read the text while holding his breath. Ten years? He had just lost ten years of his life just to return to a single minute earlier?
"Hey! Are you deaf?"
Ellian turned around again. The scene replayed exactly as before.
Michael knew he could not kill Ellian. The gap in their power was far too great. He also knew he could not enter that room.
So there was only one option. Run.
Without answering Ellian’s shout, Michael dropped the heavy pack from his back and turned around. He ran as fast as he could toward the Dungeon exit, roughly two kilometers behind them.
"Huh? He ran?" Ellian’s voice sounded shocked behind him. "Catch him! We need bait!"
Michael forced his weak legs to move. Run. Run. Run.
But then he heard a sharp whistling sound cutting through the air behind him.
It was the sound of an arrow.
One of Ellian’s party members was a Ranger.
Thud!
A burning sensation pierced Michael’s back. He stumbled and fell face-first into the muddy ground. He tried to get up, but his legs would not move. The arrow had severed his spinal nerves.
He heard footsteps approaching. The Ranger stood over him, drawing a dagger.
"Sorry, kid. Leader’s orders," the Ranger said coldly.
The dagger came down. Darkness arrived once more.
Tick.
Tock.
"Hey, Porter. Pick up the pace. We’re almost at the Boss room."
